Making electrical connections through a storage battery wall

ABSTRACT

Two connector members, one on each side of the battery wall, are brought close to one another through an opening in the wall. The parts are then joined together by fusion and after fusing, pressure is applied to force the members to press firmly and securely against the respective sides of the wall to produce a tight seal against leakage of fluid through the opening in the wall.

United States Patent 91 Sabatino Nov. 6, 1973 [54] MAKING ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS 3,336,l64 8/l967 Miller l36/l34 THROUGH A STORAGE BATTERY WALL mgzg El p et g igs y [75] Inventor: Anthony Sabatino, Minneapolis,

Minn FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS Assigneez Gould Inc. Mgndota g Minn. 709,030 5/1965 Canada l36/l34 [22] Filed: Sept. 18,1967 Primary E xaminer-Donald L. Walton [21] Appl No 668 395 Attorney-Stryker and Jacobson 57 ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl. 136/134 R, 136/176 1 511 rm. Cl. H01m 5/00 TWO "Embers, one each the 58 Field of Search 136/134, 168, 176 my W"; are bmugh close to f hmugh opening in the wall. The parts are then JOII'ICCl together [56] References Cited by fusion and after fusing, pressure is applied to force the members to press firmly and securely against the UNITED STATES PATENTS respective sides of the wall to produce a tight seal against leakage of fluid through the opening in the wall.

or 2,906,804 9/1959 Ri sby 136/134 3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED any 6 1975 III W M INVENTOR ANT/101V) SABATl/VO ATTORNEYS MAKING ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS THROUGH A STORAGE BATTERY WALL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention This invention is directed for use in the manufacture of storage batteries for making electrical connections through partitions between cells or through an outer wall of the battery casing. The connection is made in such a manner that the electrolyte or any other fluids cannot seep out or leak out through the opening in the wall or partition.

2. Description of the Prior Art A variety of through-partition connectors and methods of making connections of this nature have been developed over the years. Typifying some of the prior art is the Miller Pat. No. 3,336,164 titled Storage Battery intercell Connectors and various references cited therein as well as Frischkorn et al.,' Pat. No. 3,275,793, issued Sept.'27, 1966. The present invention is an improvement over the prior art as represented by the foregoing, particularly because it provides a more secure and reliable sealing of the opening through the battery wall.

SUMMARY In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an opening through the wall is pre-formed, such as by punching. The two members of the connector are placed on oppositesides of the wall facing each other through the opening and are brought close to one another through the prepunched opening. The members are held firmly in this position while being solidly fused together through an opening in one of the members. After fusion, pressure is applied to force bearing surfaces on the two members firmly against the respective sides of the wall to form a seal around the edge of the opening in the wall. As a feature of this invention, each of the members may be constructed with an extension which will enter part way into the pre-formed opening through the wall so that the pieces are easily aligned for assemblyand may be butted against one another within the wall opening. In addition, by making each connector member with a small extension the members can be easily inserted into the cell compartment when assembling batteries having casing walls made out of relatively hard materials. 1

As a further feature of this invention, the extension on one of the members can be made in the form of a sleeve which will protect the wall against charring when the members are fused together.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DESCRIPTION OF TIIE'PREFERREI) EMBODIMENTS In past practice electrical connections between cells within a storage battery casing or electrical connections from the cell to an external terminal were made 1 by routing the connector over the cell partition walls or through the cover of the battery casing to prevent leakage of liquid between cells or out of the battery casing. This type of connector construction was not only costly and time consuming in assembling batteries but also added resistance to the conductors because of the added length of the intercell connector and was oftentimes the cause of battery failures. To overcome these disadvantages, a variety of connectors passing through the walls or partitions have been developed. Some of these are the three-element variety and some of the more recent developments are the two-member construction. The greatest advantage of the latter is that the likelihood of corrosion is reduced considerably because only a single joint is necessary and it can be placed at the most convenient locations. Thebiggest disadvantage or obstacle to the use of a throughpartition connector is the threat of leakage-through the opening in the battery wall which this invention obviates.

Turning now to the figures which illustrate an embodiment of this invention, a circular opening 10 is prepunched in any convenient manner through the battery partition or wall 11. One member 12 of the two-piece connector is shown on the left-hand side of wall 10 and is in the form of an annular sleeve having a flange 13 which defines an inner bearing surface 14 which, as will be described later, is eventually brought to bear against the left side of wall 11. On the right hand side of wall 11, the other member 15 of the two-piece connector is in the form of a solid pin which similarly has a flange 16 which also defines an inner bearing surface 17 for eventually bearing against the righthand side of wall 11.

Ordinarily each connector member may be either integrally attached inside the cell to the battery plates or outside the casing to an external electrical terminal post. The former arrangement is illustrated in thedrawings. Whether the respective members 12 and 15 are connected to plates or to an external terminal post depends upon their use, either asan intercell connector or a connector through an outside wall of the casing.

The dimensions of the respective connector members are selected so that their respective extensions will I enter into the opening 10 in the wall 11. It is preferable that they be press-fitted into the opening but this is not critical. Preferably the length of the respective extensions of members 12 and 15 are chosen so that their ends are quite close to one another and even in contact within the confines of the wall 11. It is preferable that the extensions are of equal length so they meet or are close together at the middle of the wall, as illustrated in FIG. 2, but no limitation thereto is intended. Even when the ends are joined together, in a manner described later, the respective bearing surfaces 14 and 17 are not tight against the corresponding sides of wall 1 1. This is particularly true when the extensions are so close that they butt against one another as shown in FIG. 2.

When the members 12 and 15 are inserted into the opening 10, they are held in the opening 10 close to or lowed to cool and harden so that the two members 12 and 15 are then solidly joined together to form a single integral connector as illustrated in FIG. 2. It can be observed that during this fusion step the sleeve portion of member 12 which is within the opening 10, acts as a barrier between the hot molten metal and the material in partition wall 11 to help prevent charring of the latter during the fusing operation.

After fusing the two members together, the connection through the wall is still generally somewhat loose fitting and there may even be a slight gap between the bearing surfaces 14 and 17 and the corresponding surface areas of the wall 11. At this time, again using a suitable fixture (not shown), pressure is applied axially on both sides of the connection from opposite sides of the wall 1 1. This causes a combination of radial expansion of that portion of the connector which is within the opening as well as a distortion of flanges 13 and 16 on the respective sides of wall 11. The applied pressure forces the respective bearing surfaces 14 and 17 tightly against the corresponding sides of the wall 11 completely around the periphery of opening 10 to produce a very effective seal against leakage through the opening. It has been found that by applying the pressure to form this connector-to-wall seal in the manner described after the two connector members have been fused'together a significant improvement in the quality and reliability of the seal is achieved.

One advantage of making relatively short extensions on the respective connector members so that they both extend part way into the opening 10 is that they are then easier to insert into the cell compartment especially when they are used in a battery casing with walls made out of relatively stiff or hard material. Materials of that nature ordinarily are relatively inflexible so that an overly long extension on one member might make it difficult to insert into the cell chamber when assembling the battery. On the other hand, however, where the walls are flexible enough to allow a longer extension, the pin on member may be eliminated so it will have only a flat bearing surface against wall 11 and sleeve member 12 would then have an extension that passes substantially all the way through wall 11 to be adjacent or in contact with member 15 at the opposite side of the wall. Of course, having extensions on both members so both must be inserted at least part way into the wall opening permits them to be aligned easily with one another and with the wall opening.

I claim:

1. A method of making an electrical connection through an insulating wall of a storage battery consisting of fusing a two-piece connector into a unitary connector including the steps of:

making a first mating member having a region for fusing to a second mating member and a bearing surface for facing an insulating wall and extending completely around the periphery of an opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery for thereby forming a leakproof seal around the opening in the insulating wall of a storage battery;

making a second mating member having an extension for inserting into the opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery and making at least one of said first and said second mating members having an opening for allowing fusion of said second mating member to said first mating member and a bearing surface for facing an insulating wall and extending completely around the periphery of an opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery for thereby forming a leakproof seal around the opening in the insulating wall of a storage battery;

making an opening through an insulating wall of a storage battery;

placing one of the mating members having a region for allowing fusing of said first mating members and said second mating members on one side of the insulating wall of the storage battery; placing the mating member having an opening therein for allowing fusion of said first mating members and said second mating members on the opposite side of the insulating wall of the storage battery; placing the extension of said second mating member into the opening in the insulating wall of the storage battery to thereby allow the opening in the insulating wall of the storage battery to align the second mating member with said first mating member;

bringing said first mating member and said second mating member into position for fusion between the extension of said second mating member and said first mating member to thereby produce a fusion region while allowing'spacing between said bearing surface and said insulating wall; next, solidly puddling lead to fuse said first mating member to said second mating member through the opening in one of said mating members;

allowing the fused region to cool and harden so the first mating member and said second mating member are solidly joined together in a unitary connection; and

then applying axial pressure on the unitary connection from opposite sides of the insulating wall until both of the bearing surfaces of said first mating member and said second mating member are tightly pressing against their respective corresponding wall surfaces completely around the periphery of said wall opening to thereby seal the opening in the insulating wall of said storage battery against leakage.

2. The method as described in claim 1 further including the steps of providing one mating member with an annular sleeve and inserting said sleeve into the wall opening for shielding the wall against contact with hot molten metal during fusing.

3. A method of making electrical connections through an insulating wall of a storage battery as described in claim 2 further including providing both members with extensions, the extension on said one member being an annular sleeve, and bringing said extensions into contact with one another within the opening in said insulating wall before fusing. 

1. A method of making an electrical connection through an insulating wall of a storage battery consisting of fusing a twopiece connector into a unitary connector including the steps of: making a first mating member having a region for fusing to a second mating member and a bearing surface for facing an insulating wall and extending completely around the periphery of an opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery for thereby forming a leakproof seal around the opening in the insulating wall of a storage battery; making a second mating member having an extension for inserting into the opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery and making at least one of said first and said second mating members having an opening for allowing fusion of said second mating member to said first mating member and a bearing surface for facing an insulating wall and extending completely around the periphery of an opening in an insulating wall of a storage battery for thereby forming a leakproof seal around the opening in the insulating wall of a storage battery; making an opening through an insulating wall of a storage battery; placing one of the mating members having a region for allowing fusing of said first mating members and said second mating members on one side of the insulating wall of the storage battery; placing the mating member having an opening therein for allowing fusion of said first mating members and said second mating members on the opposite side of the insulating wall of the storage battery; placing the extension of said second mating member into the opening in the insulating wall of the storage battery to thereby allow the opening in the insulating wall of the storage battery to align the second mating member with said first mating member; bringing said first mating member and said second mating member into position for fusion between the eXtension of said second mating member and said first mating member to thereby produce a fusion region while allowing spacing between said bearing surface and said insulating wall; next, solidly puddling lead to fuse said first mating member to said second mating member through the opening in one of said mating members; allowing the fused region to cool and harden so the first mating member and said second mating member are solidly joined together in a unitary connection; and then applying axial pressure on the unitary connection from opposite sides of the insulating wall until both of the bearing surfaces of said first mating member and said second mating member are tightly pressing against their respective corresponding wall surfaces completely around the periphery of said wall opening to thereby seal the opening in the insulating wall of said storage battery against leakage.
 2. The method as described in claim 1 further including the steps of providing one mating member with an annular sleeve and inserting said sleeve into the wall opening for shielding the wall against contact with hot molten metal during fusing.
 3. A method of making electrical connections through an insulating wall of a storage battery as described in claim 2 further including providing both members with extensions, the extension on said one member being an annular sleeve, and bringing said extensions into contact with one another within the opening in said insulating wall before fusing. 